Hi, 
Can someone possibly tell me what type of seizure this could be if a seizure at all?

My daughter has a history with a seizure disorder that includes generalized tonic-clonic and myoclonic seizures with a history of status epilepticus, so I can positive identify those two types, but a few years ago she has begun to have a type of seizure that is totally new for her and then just yesterday she had some twitching with shakiness that seems new as well, but resembles the new type that she started having a few years ago, but we are not sure if the twitching/shakiness we saw yesterday is actually seizure activity and if it is, what could it be?

I'll start with the new type she started having a few years ago: She actually remains CONSCIOUS while her left leg and left arm "jolt" every couple of seconds (not continuous convulsing as in a tonic-clonic) and she whines when the jolts occur as if it's uncomfortable, or maybe she's just frustrated that she can't control it- not sure. They are obvious involuntary muscle jerks and every keep her from being able to sit up or grasp an object (i.e. her toy or book) and yet she is conscious enough for this inability to grasp her items due to the muscle jerks as she persistently reaches for her items. She even looks at her arm when it jerks as if she is confused as to why it keeps doing that. These episodes have lasted up to ten minutes and occasionally during that 10 minute episode she does appear to generalize briefly (literally about one second) as her head arches back as it does with the tonic-clonic and myoclonics and her eyes roll back too, but then she is immediately conscious again and back to whining about her uncontrollable jerking in her arm/leg... these seizures have happened numerous times over the past few years, but not very often at all and they have never lasted long enough for the medics to actually witness them. We took a video of one, but the video was terrible and difficult for her neuro to really tell and since then we've only seen them when caught off guard and didn't have the video camera ready. I researched seizures on the web and could only match its description to "simple partial" but I am not positive. Anyone ever see this type of seizure? She never had one like this until age 17.

The thing we saw yesterday was similar, but we're not sure if it's the same: She was sitting in the back seat of the car and kept getting frustrated because she kept dropping her book when we noticed her left arm was jerking. It was obvious involuntary jerking (not continuous convulsing as in a tonic-clonic) and her hand was very trembly/shaky. She didn't notice (or pay attention) the jerking in her arm this time and it didn't seem as pronounced. We couldn't tell if her leg was jerking as well, but she was sitting and the car was moving. She definitely didn't generalize with her head arched or eyes roll back this time. When we got home an hour later and handed her a glass of water her left hand was trembling so bad she had very little controll and the water was spilling like crazy, soI had to hold the glass for her to drink from it. When I held her hand off and on I noticed it seemed a little shaky, but it was faintly shaky and not so obvious, so I wasn't really sure what to think. I am confused as to what this could be. Does anyone have any idea??? I would rather hear that it is seizure activity than something worse to be honest. 
If you have any ideas I'd be relieved to hear back.
Thank you,
LaRae

-----------------------

To change your mail settings or leave the C-PALSY list, go here:

http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?SUBED1=c-palsy